102 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Skit. 



Gleanings in Bee Culture, 



Published Ittoiitlily, 



A.. I. ROOT <5c CO., 

 EDITORS AND PROPRIETORS 



MEDINA, OHIO. 



Terms: VSo. Per Aiinxiiii. 



Far Club Bates sec Last Page. 



HVTEIDIIIXr^, SEPT. 1, 187'4- 



Fi: i KM) Nev i n's report of the Cat nip Field is crowd- 

 ed out. 



It is just fun to make colonies, rear Queens or build 

 combs even during a drouth, if you can afford the sugar. 



Bee Wokld is to-day (Aug. 28th,) at hand. Loss of 

 first copy was probably caused by the burning of a 

 large amount of mail matter. 



If empty combs are worth 50c each, we really think 

 they can be profitably made during warm weather in 

 the fall by feeding: 'twould keep the bees in line con- 

 dition besides. 



Ci. "W. STINEBKING, Shreve. Wayne Co., <>., is black- 

 mailing the Bee-keepers of his vicinity by threatening 

 them with suits at law, unless they pay him $5.00 for 

 the right to use the American Hive. Hadn't they bet- 

 ter take a Bee Journal ? 



Three different persons it seems, have struck upon 

 the idea of making frames of a single strip of wood, 

 bent in shape by steaming the corners after having 

 cut V shaped grooves, nearly through, where the bends 

 come. We have not as yet been able, by this means, 

 to make So firm a frame, nor one that will remain as 

 perfectly square, but others may be more successful. 



Any one who doubts that Italians work on red clo- 

 ver should pass a small patch of it as we do now, half 

 a dozen times daily. They have been busy on it about 

 a week, and the colony belonging to the oldest daugh- 

 ter of our Imported, Is building comb and slowly lin- 

 ing it with what appears to be clover holiey. We re- 

 moved their feeder a week ago as they seemed deter- 

 since mined to build combs under it. They have 



grown from 3 frames of bees and brood only, June 



23d, 'tis now Aug. 29th. 



A neighbOk left some jars of honey at a grocery 

 when; they stood all winter side by side with our own". 

 While the latter candied and oozed out around the top 

 of the jars, so much so in fact that I hey hail to be car- 

 ried away finally; the former remained on the shelves 

 clear and clean, all winter. When we applied to 

 I hem for their valuable secret, the lady of the house 

 laughingly said 'twas all because we didn't know 

 how, and finally said theirs was put up precisely as 

 canned fruit. The honey was heated nearly to the 

 boiling point, bj suspending it in a tin pail in a kettle 

 i>f bniliug water, then poured in the self-sealing jars 

 and the lid screwed down instantly. 



Although wc shall pay all postage on Gleanings 

 for 1875, the price will still remain 75c. To our friends 

 who have so warmly aided in increasing its circula- 

 tion, we tender sincere thanks. That the task of 

 obtaining a club, for almost any periodical is no light 

 <mc we arc well aware, and we have many times 

 thought 'twas easier earning our money by regular 

 days' works, than by urging people to subscribe for 

 something they were not sure they wanted. We are 

 always willing and prefer to pay for such services, 

 and where your time is limited you can aid us much 

 by giving us the addresses of such of your friends as 

 you think likely to engage in Bee Culture; we will 

 scud them sample copies with pleasure, and will also 

 thank you for your aid in increasing our list. 



STRAW HIVES. 



A. I. Boot & Co: —In answer to your inquirv about 

 the straw hives described in my book, allow me to 

 say that they are not equal to the old-fashioned, con- 

 ical shaped straw hive, and for movable frames, bill 

 little superioa to boards ; not enough better to pay ex- 

 pense ot making. A straw hive without frames, so 

 that the combs arc attached to the outside walls is 

 superior for wintering in the open air, as has been 

 proved for centuries, straw disposes of moisture 

 readily. When combs are in frames and there are 

 spaces between the edges and sides of hive, the bees 

 do not feel the influence of outside warmth readily, 

 and suffer during protracted cold weather. The (hick 

 wails ol our hive, have proved insulllent during pro- 

 tracted severe weather, for the same reason, when 

 the colony was too small to generate warmth to coun- 

 teract outside cold. Yet they are a great advantage 

 in ordinary winters. 



M. QuiNBY, St. Johnsville, N. Y. Aug 19, '74 

 We intended also to inquire about straw- 

 mats for the top of hives. Will Mr. Q. please 

 give us his experience with these? 



ABOUT OUR CLOVER SEED. 



A. I. ROOT & Co.— Sirs, As I have been a regular 

 subscriber to Gleanings siuce its first start. I think it 

 due to me to mention in your column on humbugs, 

 that last spring a year ago I sent money to Novice for 

 Alsike Clover to sow about one acre, 1 received the 

 seed and sowed it and lo and behold ! it turned out to 

 be all the old fashioned red clover. Please explain. 

 Samuel Mumma, Highspire, Ba. 

 But we don't put folks in that department 

 friend M. until we have first submitted the 

 matter to them to determine whether the 

 trouble was only a mistake they may regret 

 more than any one else, or an intended fraud. 

 The seed you mention was raised by a neigh- 

 bor, and was advertised as containing a small 

 quantity of Timothy seed, but was ottered at 

 less than the market price. One other report 

 mentions that it was a considerable part red clo- 

 ver. Now if you, and others will send in 

 your bills for seed, trouble, etc., wc will remit 

 at once, and thank you for reminding us to use 

 more care in buying. We will in future test 

 our seed by sowing a sample in-doors. 



OUR UNIVERSAL FEEDER. 



JjJL] ony is absolutely necessary to its fullest 

 prosperity, we are so abundantly satisfied 

 since the experiments of this season that we 

 take a real pleasure in recommendiug the fol- 

 lowing simple device : 



Make as many bags of stout coarse cotton 

 cloth (such as is required for quilts) as you 

 have hives; these bags should be about 10 

 inches long and 5 deep, and the upper edges 

 around the mouth are to be tacked to the un- 

 der side of a strip of half inch board, 1% wide 

 and as long as the top bar of the frames, or so 

 long as not to allow bees to come up fit the 

 ends of the feeder. 



To use it, remove one frame from the hive 

 next the side where the lid opens, find push 

 the edge of the quilt down to make room for 

 the feeder as in the accompanying diagram: 



The tigure is supposed to represent the top 



